Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications |
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Common terms and phrases
Achmet Adrianople alarmed Amurath Anatolia appeared Arabs arms army Asia assault attack Bagdad Bairactar Bajazet battle became Belgrade besieged blood Bosphorus brave brother Buda camp capital Capitan Pasha cause character Christian command conquest Constantinople danger Danube death defeated defended divan Egypt Emperor enemy Europe faith favour fleet followers forces fortress gates Grand Vizir Greek hastened head honour hundred Hungary Ibrahim imperial important instantly janizaries Kalif Khan King Kiuperli Koran length Mahmoud Mamluks master Mecca Mehemet military Moldavia Morea mosque Mufti Muhammed Mussulman Mustapha nizaries Othman Ottoman empire Ottoman Porte palace passed peace Persian possession prince Prophet provinces race reign resolved retired revolt Russian sacred Selim seraglio Shah siege Sinan soldiers Solyman soon sovereign spahis succeeded success successor Sultan sword Syria Tartars thousand throne Timour tion treaty troops Turkey Turkish Turks Ulema vast Venetians vessels victory Wallachia walls warlike whole Widdin yamaks Zisimes
Popular passages
Page 192 - The sight of his blood, and the exquisite pain, appalled the courage of the chief, whose arms and counsels were the firmest rampart of the city. As he withdrew from his station in quest of a surgeon, his flight was perceived and stopped by the indefatigable emperor. "Your wound," exclaimed Palaeologus, "is slight; the danger is pressing: your presence is necessary; and whither will you retire?
Page 22 - is the key of heaven and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months...
Page 192 - I will retire," said the trembling Genoese, " by the same road which God has opened to the Turks ;" and, at these words, he hastily passed through one of the breaches of the inner wall. By this pusillanimous act, he stained the...
Page 193 - ... knee, and was again oppressed by a shower of darts and stones. But his success had proved that the achievement was possible: the walls and towers were instantly covered with a swarm of Turks; and the Greeks, now driven from the vantage ground, were overwhelmed by increasing multitudes.
Page 189 - ... the service of their country. But the example of their prince, and the confinement of a siege, had armed these warriors with the courage of despair, and the pathetic scene is described by the feelings of the historian Phranza, who was himself present at this mournful assembly.
Page 22 - God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer; whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven; at the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion, and odoriferous as musk; and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim.
Page 46 - I have taken," said Amrou to the caliph, "the great city of the West. It is impossible for me to enumerate the variety of its riches and beauty; and I shall content myself with observing, that it contains four thousand palaces, four thousand baths, four hundred theatres or places of amusement, twelve thousand shops for the sale of vegetable food, and forty thousand tributary Jews. The town has been subdued by force of...
Page 199 - A melancholy reflection on the vicissitudes of human greatness forced itself on his mind, and he repeated an elegant distich of Persian poetry: 'The spider has wove his web in the Imperial palace, and the owl hath sung her watch-song on the towers of Afrasiab.
Page 330 - ... with cannon, and the discharges continued without intermission. It is not possible, perhaps, to conceive any situation more horrible than that in which the janissaries now found themselves ; the houses in flames over their heads, and the walls battered down about them, torn to pieces with grape-shot, and overwhelmed with ruins and burning fragments. As it was determined to exterminate them utterly, no quarter was any longer offered or given, and the conflagration and discharge of artillery continued...
Page 117 - Touran, and the Indies. I am not a man of blood; and God is my witness, that in all my wars I have never been the aggressor, and that my enemies have always been the authors of their own calamity.